Name That Horror Movie

By: Staff
Image: refer to hsw

About This Quiz

If you prefer to spend your weekend hanging out with ghosts and zombies, demons and psychos, vampires and other nameless horrors, this is the quiz for you. See if you can name the horror movie based only on the plot description.

A troubled teen is shunned by her peers and tormented by her religious zealot mother. Everything seems to be going well until a cruel prank and some violent telekinetic powers make for an unforgettable prom night.

"Carrie" is based on the novel by Stephen King.

A masked killer is picking off teens one by one. But these teens grew up watching horror movies, so they know all the tropes and clichés and use them to predict the killer's next move. Not that it helps them much.

"Scream" launched a franchise of self-referential horror films.

Newlyweds move into an apartment, where the pregnant wife is tormented by terrifying dreams. She soon learns everyone in her life is part of a Satanic cult manipulating her and her unborn child.

"Rosemary's Baby" is an unsettling slice of Satanic horror.

A rogue great white shark is devouring swimmers, but the mayor won’t close the beach because it's tourist season. Now it's up to the police chief, a scientist and a grizzled shark hunter to end the shark's reign of terror.

The robotic shark used for some scenes in "Jaws" was named Bruce by the crew.

A young woman enrolls at a dance academy, but is plagued by bizarre events and disappearances. Events spiral out of control when she discovers the school is run by a coven of witches.

"Suspiria" was directed by Dario Argento.

A family moves into a nice suburban house, but inexplicable events culminate in their young daughter vanishing, her voice calling out from the TV. They discover the house was built on a cemetery and flee to a hotel.

Some of the cast of "Poltergeist" suffered tragic deaths in the years after the movie was released, creating the legend of the "Poltergeist" curse.

A writer brings his family to a hotel in the mountains, where they will be the caretakers and sole occupants for the winter. Forces inside the hotel and the writer's mind gradually drive him insane, and he assaults his wife and son with an axe.

Stephen King wasn't thrilled with director Stanley Kubrick's interpretation of his novel, "The Shining."

A man summons other-dimensional creatures by solving a puzzle box. They kill him, but his former lover commits several murders so the victims' blood can bring the man back to life. The man's niece battles him and the creatures, which are called Cenobites.

"Hellraiser" was directed by author Clive Barker.

A serial killer is kidnapping and killing young women, and the only way to catch him is with the help of another serial killer, one known for eating human flesh and currently in prison. He helps the FBI find the other killer but also manipulates them and escapes custody.

"The Silence of the Lambs" is the rare horror film that won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

A group of strangers is trapped in a farmhouse when the dead inexplicably come back to life and start eating people. All of their escape attempts end disastrously, and in the morning the lone survivor is shot by rescuers.

"Night of the Living Dead" is the movie that introduced the modern zombie and launched the zombie craze that's still raging today.

A child-molesting serial killer is burned to death by angry parents. He later returns to torment and murder their children in their dreams, often using a custom-made glove fitted with deadly blades.

Sardonic killer Freddy Krueger and the "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies became a successful horror franchise.

A group of friends traveling in a van runs afoul of a degenerate family, including the son, who wears a mask made of human skin and attacks victims with a chainsaw.

Leatherface is the terrifying antagonist of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre."

An Antarctic research station is infiltrated by an alien creature that infects human hosts, perfectly imitating them until it transforms into a horrifying monster. The men at the station are consumed with paranoia as they're killed off by the monster.

John Carpenter's "The Thing" was the second film based on the John W. Campbell Jr. novella "Who Goes There?"

A young man suspects that his new next-door-neighbor is a vampire. He recruits a local TV personality known for hosting late-night horror films to help eradicate the undead threat.

"Fright Night" is considered a horror-comedy, but it has some genuinely menacing and scary moments.

A child murders his sister and is placed in a mental hospital. Fifteen years later, he escapes and returns to his hometown to terrorize and murder people on October 31 while wearing a creepy white mask.

John Carpenter's "Halloween" is one of the all-time greatest horror films.

A man murders women, removing certain body parts to be placed in a cauldron of blood that will be served at a birthday party. This gruesome ritual will bring about the resurrection of the goddess Ishtar.

"Blood Feast" was the first movie to focus on gore and blood as a way to attract audiences.

A priest is brought in to help a young girl who is apparently possessed by a demon. The demon's actions are so foul and pernicious, including contorting the girl's body and carving words in her flesh, that the priest begins to question his faith.

The pervasive atmosphere of dread and hopelessness makes "The Exorcist" a horror classic.

A group of figurines (including Blade, Jester, Pinhead and Leech Woman) animated by an Egyptian spell terrorize and murder a group of people who are seeking the secrets of immortality.

"Puppet Master" was one of the big successes of the direct-to-video horror market.

The grotesque Count Orloff turns out to be a vampire who emerges from his coffin, a bizarre, misshapen beast that drains blood and exerts mental control over his victims.

"Nosferatu" is one of the first film versions of the "Dracula" tale, although it was unauthorized, so the character's names have been changed from the novel.

An investigator visits an island in the Hebrides where a girl has gone missing. The islanders claim she never existed and shock the man with their libertine ways. He finds the girl is still alive and to be sacrificed, but the islanders sacrifice the man instead, burning him alive in an effigy made of reeds and grass.

"The Wicker Man" builds horror by emphasizing how the investigator is an outsider, the only character who doesn’t know what's going on even as events unfold around him.

The crew of the spaceship Nostromo investigates a distress call. They accidentally bring a deadly creature onto their ship. Part of its gestation involves growing inside a host, then bursting out of the host, killing it. The mature form of the creature hunts and kills most of the crew.

Ridley's Scott's "Alien" shows how effective blending sci-fi and horror can be.

Only a few humans are left after Earth has been taken over by zombies. The humans gather in an abandoned shopping mall where they try to stay alive and fend off hordes of walking dead and murderous biker gangs.

Both the 1978 original and the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" are effective and brutal critiques of consumer culture.

A monster survives an attempt by villagers to destroy him. He eventually encounters a scientist who wishes to create a mate for the monster. When the mate comes to life, she rejects the monster, driving him into a murderous frenzy.

"Bride of Frankenstein" delivers more emotional depth than you might expect from a monster movie.

A writer moves into a home where a family was previously murdered. He finds a box of film footage that depicts the brutal murders of several families. Showing the films summons a demon named Bughuul.

"Sinister" features a deeply unsettling musical score.

A disfigured man, his face disguised by a prosthetic replica, exacts revenge on those he believes are responsible for his wife's death, murdering them with elaborate schemes based on the 10 Biblical plagues.

"The Abominable Dr. Phibes" features Vincent Price in one of his classic horror roles.

A woman hosts a party on an island for her friends, but they're killed off one-by-one with deadly pranks. The killer is revealed to be the woman's evil twin. But then it turns out everyone is fine and it was all a rehearsal for turning the island into a horror-themed bed-and-breakfast.

"April Fool's Day" is the slasher film that isn’t really a slasher film.

A family moves into a home in which the prior family was murdered. Supernatural events in the house (mysterious flies, a weird room in the basement, demonic eyes) drive away a priest and drastically change the personality of the husband, who wakes up every night at 3:15 a.m. The family eventually flees.

"The Amityville Horror" is based on a book that was revealed to be a hoax, but it's still an effective horror movie.

An undead killer wearing a hockey mask rides a boat to New York City, where he continues murdering people in creative ways.

"Friday the 13th Part VIII" is maybe not the worst movie of the series, but it's close.

A sinister corporation is selling Halloween masks to children that will kill them when they see a particular TV commercial on Halloween night. The mass death will complete an occult ritual. A cop and a woman investigate the company, encountering a litany of horrors along the way.

"Halloween III" is maligned for deviating from the Halloween series' Michael Myers storyline, but it is a disturbing, gory horror film in its own right.

A reporter, whose wife recently died, finds himself drawn to a town in West Virginia. He and the other residents encounter a strange black creature, and he receives phone calls from someone named Indrid Cold that predict a tragedy. The bridge over the Ohio River collapses, killing 36 people.

"The Mothman Prophecies" greatly exaggerates a spate of strange occurrences in the 1960s. Nevertheless, it's a creepy supernatural thriller.

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